2018 Selfie

Portrait painting has always been part of my practice, but sometimes to keep working a self portrait is needful. There are painters who produce self images for artistic purposes--Jenny Saville, for example--and those who made them because of a lack of models--van Gogh comes immediately to mind. Rembrandt seems to have painted his many self portraits as examples for patrons of what he could do as well as for personal practice. There are also painters who try to do a self portrait annually, as a kind of visual record of their lives. My own work mostly falls into the category of needing to work but not having a model.

Self Portrait, 2018, oil, 12x16

Over the years I've produced all kinds of selfies, from graphite or charcoal in the early years through oil, watercolor, and digital, but thinking on self portraiture a few weeks back made me realize that I hadn't done an oil self-portrait in quite a few years. The self portrait in that post is more than five years old. So one day a couple of weeks back I toned a linen panel and started a self portrait from life--no reference photos or preliminary studies, only oil paint.

The painting process that I use is pretty standard. I toned my support with raw umber to about value 5 before laying in the bare outlines of my head and neck. From that point my approach was somewhere between layering and direct painting. Unlike premier coup or alla prima work, I allow myself mistakes, overpaintings, rubouts, and even major revisions if needful. This one began to take shape in three monochromatic values, using raw umber and white. When I was satisfied with the shapes and values and the layer sufficiently dry I began putting down colors. Over a period of perhaps ten days, using Maroger medium to improve handling and drying, the selfie posted here emerged. I think it's finished at this step, but will put it aside for a few weeks and give it a new look with fresh eyes.